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Cited by 112Sustainable Supply Chain ManagementSustainable Design and DevelopmentWaste Management and Recycling

‘Fixing the World One Thing at a Time’: Community repair and a sustainable circular economy

Open access
van der Velden, Maja·2021·Journal of Cleaner Production
DOI 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127151
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Abstract

The notion of a circular economy is often presented in discourses on a more sustainable future. A circular economy proposes more efficient material flows in growth-based economy and in support of sustainable development. Repair is presented as one of the phases in a circular economy and supports product lifetime extension. The paper brings a particular form of repair, community repair, into discourses on a circular economy. Data from a world-wide initiative in community repair and from participant observation in a Repair Café provide new insights in the possible roles and challenges of repair in a circular economy. Notions of efficiency and economic growth are contested in community repair; repair contributes to product lifetime extension and product attachment through acts of tinkering, sharing, and care. The analysis points to an inseparability of the material and social in community repair, contributing to a non-reductionist understanding of a circular economy. Community repair is a sociomaterial entanglement of people and things. This enables a different perspective on the role of repair, from merely a phase in the material flows in a circular economy to a sustainable way of living with things in a circular economy.

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  • Relying solely on user-led do-it-yourself repair efforts, while valuable, has inherent limitations for achieving widespread adoption beyond niche consumer segments.

    “Relying solely on user-led DIY repair efforts, while valuable, has inherent limitations for achieving widespread adoption beyond niche consumer segments (van der Velden 2021; Prabhu and Majhi 2023).”

    From Integrating Life Cycle Assessment, Monetised Externalities and Value Alignment for Strategic Reconfiguration of Circular Business Models: The Case of Smartphones (2026) · cites this paper as van der Velden 2021

    Section 2, “Product repair and the circular economy,” identifies barriers for self-repairers, including difficult product designs, unavailable parts, warranty loss, and restricted repair information. It also reports that repair becomes more likely when infrastructure is available. These passages support limits to relying on DIY repair alone, but the paper does not establish that DIY repair cannot spread beyond niche consumer segments. (LLM, conf=0.83)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Existing research on repairability largely focuses on product design, policy, and technical enablers, while providing limited empirical insight into consumer decision-making.

    “Existing research on repairability largely focuses on product design, policy, and technical enablers, while providing limited empirical insight into consumer decision-making [3-5,12].”

    From Designing for Repair and Extended Lifespan: Consumer Expectations and Economic Constraints (2026) · cites this paper as [3]

    Section 2, ‘Product repair and the circular economy’ (page unavailable), discusses product design, spare parts, repair tools, and policy as barriers to repair. It does not establish that existing research largely focuses on those topics or provides limited empirical insight into consumer decision-making; the same section reports findings about consumers’ willingness to repair. (LLM, conf=0.81)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Community repair initiatives-repair cafés, shared tool libraries, and peer-to-peer skill transfer platforms-build the collective competence and social infrastructure that individual consumers lack, particularly for technically complex products.

    “Community repair initiatives-repair cafés, shared tool libraries, and peer-to-peer skill transfer platforms-build the collective competence and social infrastructure that individual consumers lack, particularly for technically complex products [3,14,21].”

    From Designing for Repair and Extended Lifespan: Consumer Expectations and Economic Constraints (2026) · cites this paper as [3]

    The Introduction describes repair cafés as places where volunteers and owners learn and share together; “Doing repair” reports repairers exchanging information and explaining electronic devices to owners. The paper does not establish the claim about shared tool libraries or peer-to-peer skill-transfer platforms, and its observed café lacked the expertise to repair mobile phones. Page numbers were unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Repair is a cornerstone of the circular economy, enabling extension of product lifespans and reducing material throughput.

    “However, repair is a cornerstone of the circular economy (CE), enabling the extension of product lifespans and reducing material throughput.”

    From Designing for Repair and Extended Lifespan: Consumer Expectations and Economic Constraints (2026) · cites this paper as [3]

  • Repair facilitates sustainable consumption patterns by preserving product value and function over time.

    “Repair not only precedes more intensive CE strategies such as remanufacturing and refurbishment, but also facilitates sustainable consumption patterns by preserving product value and function over time [3].”

    From Designing for Repair and Extended Lifespan: Consumer Expectations and Economic Constraints (2026) · cites this paper as [3]

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Cites

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
van der Velden, M.
Venue
Journal of Cleaner Production
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2021-07
Volume
304
Pages
127151
ISSN
0959-6526 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127151
OpenAlex
W3156109423
Cited by
112
References
6
Citations by year
2026: 21 · 2025: 38 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 3
FWCI
11.82
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
Journal of Cleaner Production (publishedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
Universitetet i Oslo
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Sustainable Supply Chain Management
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Building and Construction › Sustainable Design and Development
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Waste Management and Disposal › Waste Management and Recycling
Keywords
circular economy, repair cafés, product life extension, product attachment, tinkering, sharing, care, material flow, economic growth, efficiency, sustainable consumption

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